The Princess and the Frog
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Dark blue starry sky...Musker and Clement trademark!
Lovely teaser...nice to see the Studio putting out exclusive animation again, and it's short and funny so it won't have driven us nuts by the time we've seen it sixteen million times before it hits theaters.
Very much a return to the Disney movie of the Musker and Clements era, and as we know, the princesses have often saved the Disney animation unit, so here's hoping the tradition continues.
It looks in good hands.
Lovely teaser...nice to see the Studio putting out exclusive animation again, and it's short and funny so it won't have driven us nuts by the time we've seen it sixteen million times before it hits theaters.
Very much a return to the Disney movie of the Musker and Clements era, and as we know, the princesses have often saved the Disney animation unit, so here's hoping the tradition continues.
It looks in good hands.
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Not that this is really that important but there's this older Princess thread I thought might be cool to merge with this one:
http://www.animated-news.com/forum/view ... 00&start=0
http://www.animated-news.com/forum/view ... 00&start=0
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
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Disney's The Princess and the Frog
My favorite's the one with Dr. Duvalier, such cool reds and blues and the angle and everything. But all these gorgeous, detailed, artful, moody pictures give me hope beyond the dissapointing trailer. The last one with the fountain and man in Prince Charming outfit looks Cinderella-inspired, which is cool but...eh, I like most of the others better.
Hey Ben, and any other animation experts, what did you think of the animation in the trailer? Especially compared to the past films, and the DTV's, and the sequels. Hope you get to answer this one, I really want to know what you think about this important subject, though there's always hope the movie's actual animation will be better. Me, I thought it looked good but not like the old, really good classics. And somehow it's...toonier?
Hey Ben, and any other animation experts, what did you think of the animation in the trailer? Especially compared to the past films, and the DTV's, and the sequels. Hope you get to answer this one, I really want to know what you think about this important subject, though there's always hope the movie's actual animation will be better. Me, I thought it looked good but not like the old, really good classics. And somehow it's...toonier?
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Wasn't exactly sure where this should go but apparently Don Hahn just came out with his second book:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/books/the-al ... -animation
It sounds great! There's apparently some sneak peeks of Bolt and Princess in it too. It's supposed to come out Oct. 7.
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/books/the-al ... -animation
It sounds great!
There's apparently some sneak peeks of Bolt and Princess in it too. It's supposed to come out Oct. 7.You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!
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Re: Disney's The Princess and the Frog
I don't know if I fill that role of animation expert, but I thought I would chime in with my own opinions of the trailer.Dusterian wrote:Hey Ben, and any other animation experts, what did you think of the animation in the trailer? Especially compared to the past films, and the DTV's, and the sequels. Hope you get to answer this one, I really want to know what you think about this important subject, though there's always hope the movie's actual animation will be better. Me, I thought it looked good but not like the old, really good classics. And somehow it's...toonier?
Personally, I thought the animation looked terrific. There was an awkward anatomical flaw that came to my eye when watching it, but it's nothing that would stop me from seeing the movie.
But what really upsets me is how you constantly refer to this with the past Disney films. Saying that the animation isn't as great as the classics because it is a more toonier film is sort of a conundrum. The style in which the were designed for the films don't decide whether the animation will be great or not.
Now I know you probably didn't mean it that way, but you have to be careful with how you phrase things - or it comes across like you will always hate modern Disney Films. What you have to remember is that the footage had only one purpose, to be in the trailer. In any case, it was probably rushed a little to get it out into the public eye. So if it makes you sleep any better, yes the animation may have been rushed (a little) but I can promise you that the film will look amazing.
Oh and just out of curiosity, what do you define as classics? I know it changes for different people depending on when they were born, but the classics to me are Snow White, Bambi, Dumbo, and Alice in Wonderland.
(A minor note: any grammatical problems are due to the fact I am up at 6AM to go to work).
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Disney's The Princess and the Frog
Thanks for your thoughts, scofo!
I may actually not like many modern Disney films, but I doubt it would be (all) because of the animation. Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear are all said to be bad and I don't think Atlantis was very good, but from what I've seen of all their animation, it looks exceptional, the best. If Disney was getting bad in story, they stayed fantastic as far as animation.
But you see, I'm kind of worried. When you get rid of everything that has to do with something, and then try to bring it back, it won't be the same. Yes, I'm talking about how they got rid of all the animation stuff, and are attempting to bring it back. Don Bluth and James Baxter may have been former Disney animators, but for whatever reason, neither were able to capture the same Disney quality in the films they worked on (any Don Bluth film, and Enchanted). Of course, Bluth probably wasn't striving for straight-up Disney...but he still had to rely on lots of rotoscoping (Disney never quite rotoscoped, they traced over pictures for reference but they didn't do any tracing for actual animation, just some pictures to look at), and we all know Enchanted was trying to be straight-up Disney (unless, because it was melded with live-action, and because it could risk making Disney look bad, as they were poking fun at Disney's fairy tale animation, they went for an un-Disney look so sharp people could say, "This isn't Disney!" and still love the superiorly animated fairy tale classics).
Basically, I'm worried Disney films will never have the same quality and magic or whatever they had that they used to have. Unless enough people from the Eisner days or earlier remember exactly how to make good Disney animation again. Thanks for making me feel better with the "rushed" idea, though.
As for "the classics", your list surprised me. Really, Disney's official list of the classics was put up recently on their Walt Disney Animation Studios' web site. It includes pretty much every theatrically released animated film made by them. Or maybe I just thought the list was supposed to be the DAC's, the Disney Animated Classics...but now, they're not all classic, just all their films.
Here's Disney's official list.
It's right to ask what different people think are the classics, because if we're talking about the kind of classic that is good, has gone through time, and has long-lasting appeal, then it differs.
I think popularity factors into what a classic is, because a classic must be agreed to be classic by many people. Even cult classics are classics because of this. Your list seems to only include the films that have the best Disney animation, and not because I would say it's the best animation, but because people I've talked to, some who seem to know more about animation than me and study it more, say that. Honestly, I'm not sure.
My list of the most classical classics would be Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King.
My list could surely change, but this is basically what I think Walt Disney, the Disney studios, and the public regard as the classics and have made into the classics. Alice wasn't really liked by Walt, not sure about the studio, but it wasn't really liked by the public either, and today it's not really considered a good movie. It just has really great creativity, design, and animation. Kind of like Sleeping Beauty, except Walt actually intended it to be his masterpiece, and the film had more of a story and was more of a movie than episodic Alice in Wonderland. Fantasia is episodic and less like a movie, too, but that's definately a classic masterpiece, if not by the public, by Walt, the studio, and the whole company.
If you want to know what I personally think, not what Walt or the studio or the public thinks, I would say Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast, and...I guess The Lion King, because I like it, it's arguably the most popular, and it even has a Shakespearean story (Hamlet), plus it's like Bambi in Africa. These to me are the most classical classics, actually being classical in in their settings, music, story, or art. Along with the enduring praise and popularity.
But really, Disney considers every animated theatrical film in it's canon, except maybe the package films, Dinosaur, the recent films after The Lion King, or after Pocahontas, to be the classics.
Style? Disney's feature films have always tried to be anything other than (i.e. better than) cartoons, I don't think they would ever purposely go for a cartoony style.scofo wrote:The style in which the were designed for the films don't decide whether the animation will be great or not.
I may actually not like many modern Disney films, but I doubt it would be (all) because of the animation. Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear are all said to be bad and I don't think Atlantis was very good, but from what I've seen of all their animation, it looks exceptional, the best. If Disney was getting bad in story, they stayed fantastic as far as animation.
But you see, I'm kind of worried. When you get rid of everything that has to do with something, and then try to bring it back, it won't be the same. Yes, I'm talking about how they got rid of all the animation stuff, and are attempting to bring it back. Don Bluth and James Baxter may have been former Disney animators, but for whatever reason, neither were able to capture the same Disney quality in the films they worked on (any Don Bluth film, and Enchanted). Of course, Bluth probably wasn't striving for straight-up Disney...but he still had to rely on lots of rotoscoping (Disney never quite rotoscoped, they traced over pictures for reference but they didn't do any tracing for actual animation, just some pictures to look at), and we all know Enchanted was trying to be straight-up Disney (unless, because it was melded with live-action, and because it could risk making Disney look bad, as they were poking fun at Disney's fairy tale animation, they went for an un-Disney look so sharp people could say, "This isn't Disney!" and still love the superiorly animated fairy tale classics).
Basically, I'm worried Disney films will never have the same quality and magic or whatever they had that they used to have. Unless enough people from the Eisner days or earlier remember exactly how to make good Disney animation again. Thanks for making me feel better with the "rushed" idea, though.
As for "the classics", your list surprised me. Really, Disney's official list of the classics was put up recently on their Walt Disney Animation Studios' web site. It includes pretty much every theatrically released animated film made by them. Or maybe I just thought the list was supposed to be the DAC's, the Disney Animated Classics...but now, they're not all classic, just all their films.
Here's Disney's official list.
It's right to ask what different people think are the classics, because if we're talking about the kind of classic that is good, has gone through time, and has long-lasting appeal, then it differs.
I think popularity factors into what a classic is, because a classic must be agreed to be classic by many people. Even cult classics are classics because of this. Your list seems to only include the films that have the best Disney animation, and not because I would say it's the best animation, but because people I've talked to, some who seem to know more about animation than me and study it more, say that. Honestly, I'm not sure.
My list of the most classical classics would be Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King.
My list could surely change, but this is basically what I think Walt Disney, the Disney studios, and the public regard as the classics and have made into the classics. Alice wasn't really liked by Walt, not sure about the studio, but it wasn't really liked by the public either, and today it's not really considered a good movie. It just has really great creativity, design, and animation. Kind of like Sleeping Beauty, except Walt actually intended it to be his masterpiece, and the film had more of a story and was more of a movie than episodic Alice in Wonderland. Fantasia is episodic and less like a movie, too, but that's definately a classic masterpiece, if not by the public, by Walt, the studio, and the whole company.
If you want to know what I personally think, not what Walt or the studio or the public thinks, I would say Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast, and...I guess The Lion King, because I like it, it's arguably the most popular, and it even has a Shakespearean story (Hamlet), plus it's like Bambi in Africa. These to me are the most classical classics, actually being classical in in their settings, music, story, or art. Along with the enduring praise and popularity.
But really, Disney considers every animated theatrical film in it's canon, except maybe the package films, Dinosaur, the recent films after The Lion King, or after Pocahontas, to be the classics.